Somehow Harry and the female snake had made it out of there. Looking back, the way they had managed to creep past that manticore was fantastic. It was terrifying but impressive. Especially since Harry was in a partial daze.

But now Harry was staring at the door into his dormitory, the mamba curled around his arm. His mind was utterly blank; honestly, he wasn't there. The snake did snap him out of it with a sharp hiss, and by the way, she tightened around his forearm.

"Speaker! What are you waiting for?" Harry blinked dumbly, then met her slitted eyes. His mind cleared enough for him to speak to the snake.

"I've got another snake..." He muttered, still feeling quite numb. He wasn't sure why he felt so ungrounded, but Harry couldn't focus well right then. The snake, meanwhile, had a confused expression on her face, well, confused as a snake could get.

"Another snake? I knew you smelt a little bit like a viper, but I wasn't sure. It doesn't matter anyway, I'm old, and they wouldn't dare try anything. I know better than some pet snake." Harry shrugged at her reply but still hesitated at the door.

His hand was on the knob, but he couldn't turn it. It felt like, after this point, something big was going to happen, and Harry wasn't sure if he was ready. But the tightening of the bright green mamba on his arm pushed him to open the door.

Immediately he saw Rio's head peek up from under the bedsheets. He looked relieved for a moment before he spotted the green mamba. Harry's never seen Rio aggressive before, but he had his sharp fangs visible right then, and his entire body language screamed hostile.

"Who is that with you, Harry?" Hissed out Rio; his yellow eyes were gleaming. But the mamba wasn't fazed at all by Rio; instead, she slithered down Harry and onto the floor. Rio looked ready to strike as the green snake kept coming closer to him.

She stopped and met his eyes from her place on the floor. Her eyes were dark and wise, she may be old, but she didn't lack fierceness. In fact, even Harry was intimidated by the mamba, and he wasn't even the target of her gaze. Rio shrunk a little, her dominant energy forcing him to submit to her.

"Listen here, young one, I don't aim to hurt you, but I will. I made a deal with your human, and he allowed me to live with him for my remaining days. You better shut up and deal with it before I bite your head off." Rio looked miffed, but he ducked back into his warm blankets. Rio glared at Harry as if to say they'd be talking about this later. The mamba went onto Harry's bed and curled up herself, letting out a snaky sigh of comfort.

"You humans have it so nice, you know." Harry could guess the world hadn't been nice to her. Scars of battles fought and won littered her green body. And though she was bright green, her eyes showed the dullness of age and weary traumas.

Harry realized he had nothing to call her, and he also had so many questions for her.
"What should I call you?" She opened her dark eyes, looking a bit peeved, but she let out a string off hisses that had no meaning to him, even in parseltongue.

"What was that?" He asked, alarmed, having no idea what she had just said. She rolled her eyes, groaning at his puzzlement.

"My name, but I guess you're too stupid for my true name. Call me what you want, speaker." She'd been calling him speaker since he summoned her. If he remembered correctly, so did that garden snake, Sasha. Rio never referred to him as speaker, but maybe that was because he wasn't raised in the wild.

"Why do you call me speaker?" Harry asked, giving in to his interest. The green snake just gave him a deadpanned look, as if his question was straightforward. But to Harry, at least, the answer wasn't apparent at all. The female snake exhaled deeply, reminding Harry of McGonagall when she was annoyed.

"You know the tongue of the snakes; therefore, you can speak and are a speaker." She said dryly, her expression bored. Harry had more questions though, something was nagging at him. Maybe this was just to keep his mind off what he saw in the mirror.

"Yeah, why am I able to talk to snakes? Is it like a wizard thing or..." The green snake suddenly looked like she was paying full attention to Harry, her eyes wide in utter shock. Harry stopped what he was going to say, her abrupt regard freaking him out a little.

"You don't know?" The extreme trepidation in her voice had him stepping back a bit. Her black eyes searched his, looking for something, and it didn't seem she found it.

"You're one of the last parseltongue's, and you don't know? Hasn't your mother or father taught you?" Why would Harry's mother know? She was raised as a muggle, and Harry's father was a Gryffindor golden boy who had nothing to do with snakes.

"First of all, I can barely remember my parents. Second, I know they have nothing to do with my snake abilities; I have these abilities because of another's attempt to kill me." The snake cackled, her hisses sounding raspy to Harry, but he didn't find anything funny at all.

"Why are you laughing?" He asked indignantly, offended by her apparent enjoyment of his explanation. Harry was beginning to become resentful of this snake.

"Oh, Harry, it looks like I've got a lot to teach you..." Harry wanted to learn nothing from this bitter old mamba. He didn't have to learn anything from anyone but himself.

"I don't have anything to learn from you!" He exclaimed, with extra emphasis on the 'you.' The mamba shook her scarred head, a smirk on her vibrant green face.

"Speaker, believe me when I say you'd be making a mistake by turning away my knowledge. I've learned from many other snakes in my ten years of living, ones so old their skin was falling off. They taught me so much history about your kind, and you don't even know the basics. I won't be around forever, and you don't want my knowledge to die with me." Her eyes were endless then, begging Harry to listen to her.

Harry considered her, from her five-foot-long body to her infinite sable eyes. Her vivid spring green scales were littered with defacements. Even though technically he'd lived longer than her, there was just something about her that seemed so ancient and knowing.

"Saffi..." Harry whispered, not really knowing where the name came from, but it fit her like a glove as soon as he uttered it. Saffi gave Harry a confused look, wondering where the name came from, but she didn't look unhappy with it.

"Fine, Saffi, I'll listen to you." She blinked at him in surprise, like she expected him to continue to be stubborn for a lot longer. Harry probably would have if he hadn't taken that moment to examine her. Now he wanted to know the secrets she held.

"Saffi?" She asked, her eyes displaying her bewilderment. Harry smiled at that. Who was the confused one now?

"It's your name," Harry said simply with a slight shrug and a grin, slightly teasing Saffi. She just huffed, then it looked like she was moving around to get comfortable. Harry noticed that Rio had been observing the whole exchange.

"Ah, such a childish speaker, but at least you are not dumb." Childish? He most certainly wasn't! But he didn't say anything because he knew Saffi would take it as a confirmation.

"I suppose I'll start how the elder snakes started. Well, technically, they started by almost killing me, but I won't do that to you." Saffi paused to think, her eyes closing for a moment. She must be reaching deep into her memory for a time long past.

"I was just a hatchling, barely out of the egg. I was ruled by my instincts, as most snakes are. I was quite tough for such a little thing, and I let that get to my head..." Harry could easily picture it, a little green mamba with her face high in the air, thinking she could take on anything.

"I had heard about the elders from the gossiping animals, snakes even the largest animals knew better to avoid. I thought I could take them. What old snake could defeat me? Me who was young and healthy still." Harry shifted slightly, realizing it was getting uncomfortable to just stand here. He moved to someone else's bed, sitting down on it but still watching Saffi.

"Oh, I'm so lucky to still be around. They defeated me in moments, not even breaking a sweat. They saw that I was smart through my headstrong youth. And they took me in as an apprentice." Harry tried to imagine snakes getting along with other snakes and found it was difficult.

"But isn't that unnatural?" He interrupted, finding that her story was too strange for him to understand. That sounded like human behavior, but then again, Rio and Saffi both acted far too human. They were both animals, yet they talked like people and even sometimes acted like people.

"Ah, I know now they were a magic breed of snake. And animals act differently around magic, speaker, it's fascinating. Because before you summoned me here, I can't remember anything but eating, sleeping, and fighting." Harry paused for a moment. Animals are affected by magic?

If Harry thought about it, that made perfect sense. Magic isn't just a wizard thing; there were magical creatures, and objects, and places. Harry's just never thought about it that way. He'd had other things to worry about.

"So, what happened after they took you in?" Rio asked, looking eager to know. Saffi turned around to look at him, appearing pleased that he was also paying attention to her. It struck Harry that she must feel like a grandmother teaching her grandkids about how the world worked.

"Well, after that. I learned about your kind..." Saffi peered at Harry when she said that. What did she mean by his kind? Was she talking about humans or wizards?

"My kind?" She let out a frustrated breath; Harry could tell her patience was running thin. But Harry really didn't understand.

"You aren't fully human. Your ancestors were beings who could communicate with animals. Eventually, they mated with humans so much that you look identical to humans, but you still have a few of their abilities and some noticeable differences." Harry was utterly speechless.

He glanced over to Rio, like the sheltered serpent would have the answers. Rio only seemed wholly entranced by Saffi's words. Was this true? It seemed too preposterous to be correct, but how could he be sure? This seemed like stuff not written in books, a knowledge that would only be passed down.

"Anyway...They taught me that us snakes aren't the only creatures that can be talked to. Some people can speak to birds, wolves, or even ants; they just might never know it. The only reason your ability is most recognized is because Salzar Slytherin wanted people to respect him and his talent."

People who could talk to wolves or birds? Harry's mind was slowly being blown, but once more, the information made perfect sense in retrospect. Snakes were such a random animal, and why would it only be snakes in the world of magic?

"Usually, a person can only talk to their creature or other creatures similar. You might find yourself able to slightly understand crocodiles or lizards like they speak almost the same language as you. Maybe even frogs or salamander's if you're good at interpreting." Saffi looked like she thought that was a dumb idea.

"Almost all old wizarding bloodlines came from the beings who originally wielded magic and could speak to beasts. So pretty much all wizards that came from long lines have the capability. It's either a secret or unknown to the family; it was probably unknown to your family." Harry knew he had a long-lived line.

If what she's saying is true, then Dumbledore lied even more than Harry thought. It's possible that the old man didn't know, but even then, he still told Harry he could talk to snakes because of what Voldemort did. Hatred surged within him, but he pushed it down so he could let Saffi continue.

Rio noticed Harry's white knuckles and clenched jaw and flicked his tongue out. Harry could tell Rio tasted his fiery temper because concern blossomed on his face. Harry shook his head at Rio and forced himself to calm down.

"There's more I could tell you, but right now, I am bone tired and done with talking." He tore his eyes away from his hands to meet Saffi's abysmal stare. Harry, of course, had so many things he wanted to be answered, but he knew better than to try to pry them out of the sleepy mamba.

"Thank you, Saffi; you've taught me a lot. I'm sorry for being troublesome at first." She nodded with a tiny smile on her lips.

"It's your nature as a young one to be problematic; I don't blame you, speaker." Saffi closed her eyes and snuggled into the bed. Harry decided to look out the window and was shocked to see the sun was far down already.

When he and Saffi had first arrived, the sun had been high and bright in the sky. Judging by how dark it was outside, dinner wasn't being served any longer. Harry didn't mind, though, because sudden fatigue gripped him, and he let it consume him.

So yep important lore here, sorry it's late. Rewriting isn't progressing at all lol! Hope ya'll enjoyed this actually important, but pretty much filler chapter.

-Lemon Nugget